Georgia teen to appear in plea hearing over 2024 school shooting that killed four people

A memorial seen at Apalachee high school on 7 September 2024 after the school shooting in Winder, Georgia. Photograph: Mike Stewart/AP View image in fullscreen A memorial seen at Apalachee high school on 7 September 2024 after the school shooting in Winder, Georgia. Photograph: Mike Stewart/AP Georgia teen to appear in plea hearing over 2024 school shooting that killed four people Colt Gray, now 16, expected to change plea after pleading not guilty to 55 criminal counts in Apalachee shooting The teenager accused of killing two students and two teachers during a 2024 shooting at Apalachee high school in Georgia has been scheduled to appear in court later in July for a “non-negotiated” plea hearing, according to records. Documents filed on Friday in Barrow county superior court in Winder, Georgia , show that Colt Gray is expected to change his plea at a hearing on 24 July, with the court scheduled to hold proceedings for both the plea and sentencing, as the Associated Press reported. Previously charged as an adult, the 16-year-old Gray had entered a not guilty plea. He faces 55 criminal counts , including malice murder, aggravated battery, and aggravated assault in connection with a shooting when he was 14. The second-degree murder charges alone carry a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison, and he could face as much as 180 years overall. In late 2025, Gray’s attorneys said plea negotiations were under way, after which the judge imposed a deadline. The judge, in a filing submitted on Friday, assigned to the case a “non-negotiated plea and sentencing hearing” beginning on 24 July. Georgia father’s conviction tests new frontier in school shooting cases Read more A non-negotiated plea means prosecutors and the defense have not agreed on a sentence, which is in contrast to a negotiated plea, or plea deal. Defendants involved in non-negotiated pleas agree to plead guilty in exchange for an agreed-upon sentence and potentially reduced charges, a non-negotiated plea leaves the sentencing decision entirely with the judge after hearing summaries of the case and sentencing recommendations from both sides. The judge had earlier instructed that if Gray intended to plead guilty before trial, he had to notify both the court and prosecutors by this 15 July. Gray has remained in a juvenile detention center since he was arrested in the Apalachee school shooting. Colin Gray, his father, was found guilty in March of second-degree murder in the shooting. Colin Gray’s prosecution marked the third instance in which a parent faced criminal charges tied to a mass shooting allegedly carried out by their child – the first such case in Georgia. Prosecutors accused Colin Gray of “criminal negligence”, arguing that he allowed his son access to a firearm and ammunition after “receiving sufficient warning that Colt Gray would harm and endanger the bodily safety of another”. They also contended that he disregarded multiple violent incidents involving his son over several